The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (84 page)

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Ellis Leyton was as excited as he hadn’t been for a long while. When he’d gotten the call from Adela Faraday and she had told him that she had something he might be interested in, he thought it might be something Hennessey had given her, a gift perhaps or something he had left behind that she thought they might find useful in their investigation. But never could he have imagined what she had given him.

Duncan Blakemore had been shot once at close range in his own bed, in his own home. A house surrounded by high walls and barb wire fencing with vicious dogs and equally vicious men guarding it. Nevertheless someone had gotten in and killed him, not that the local cops had really cared too much, in fact it was the best thing that could have happened to him. Blakemore was a first class bastard, covering up illegal activities with legitimate business dealings. He hid his real character, that of being a drug dealing murderer behind philanthropy.

He had been well known for his charitable donations, even once donating a new school to his neighbourhood and his murder had made headline news across the southern states. But every cop in the south knew he was a class A criminal, a mobster, but could never prove it. Still, a murder was a murder and they had has to investigate just the same as if he’d been an innocent law abiding citizen. But after almost two weeks the Tennessee PD had absolutely no clues, no one saw anything, no one heard anything or at least no one admitted to seeing or hearing anything.

At first they had suspected one of his own employees, because there had been no sign of a break in, no footprints, no fingerprints, nothing. They just couldn’t figure out how it had been done.

The only thing they had to go on was that Blakemore’s car had been stolen; it had obviously been used as the getaway car. But the most interesting thing, the thing that convinced the
Tennessee detectives that it wasn’t one of Blakemore’s own men who had been responsible for his murder, was that the body of his suspected business partner was found in the trunk of Blakemore’s car.

Jeffrey Stanton was a silent partner, so silent in fact that nothing could ever be proved against him. Before his untimely…or timely depending on which side of the law you were on…death, hardly anyone knew who he was, or at least his real name, and very few people knew what he looked like and even fewer where he lived. He had also been shot point black with the same gun.

The fact was that all the evidence, in particular the raincoat, all pointed to Hennessey being at least involved in Blakemore’s murder. This was now more than an investigation into an attempted murder but an investigation into an actual murder.

He knew she had not believed his story about not knowing who Blakemore was, he had not been able to hide his excitement. And he should not have told Miss. Faraday about Hennessey’s pseudonyms, but he had been angry and had just blurted it out. Plus, she had a way with her, a quiet, softly spoken but firm way of asking questions that had stumped him for a moment there. Thank goodness he had had the sense not to tell her that the men whose  identities he'd stolen were all dead. Not that Hennessey had killed them, they had been dead for more than thirty years. Still, he should not have done it, Sullivan would be furious.

Although he had been excited and had wanted to get the coat to forensics and checked out he had hated leaving her like that. When she had emerged from the bathroom she had looked white and ill and had been very embarrassed that she had lost control like she had. She was merely a witness to a crime, a witness like many others he had interviewed in his career, but he felt sorry for her, sorry that she had gotten involved with a man like Hennessey, who was obviously a con man as she had so accurately put it, and now a man who might well be a murderer.

He was angry with himself, he had not been able to hide what he’d been thinking and she had picked up on it. He had to admit she was very astute. But unfortunately not astute enough, she had not seen what Hennessey was. She had taken him at face value, she had believed his stories, believed his lies and been deceived. But then maybe she had seen only what she had wanted to see, believed only what she had wanted to believe. Maybe her talent for picking up on a lie or deceit had failed her this time because she had liked him so very much and it had rendered her blind to what he truly was. They say that love is blind, well he knew now that there was some truth in that.

He had hovered around uncertain about what to do or say and she had been aware of that, and of the fact that he wanted to go and continue the investigation with this new evidence; she knew he had been embarrassed by that. So he had gotten her some water, seen her settled on the sofa then left.

He and Sullivan were now in their lieutenant’s office, with the assistant D.A. Diane Lang  and a forensics guy by the name of Jeremy Hooper. Although there were only five people present the room looked packed, maybe because it was a small office as were the rest of the offices in the building, probably because the building itself was small, housing only twenty cops and detectives.

They were all silent because Hooper had just finished telling them that along with Hennessey’s, Leyton’s and Blakemore’s there was one other set of fingerprints on the raincoat, unknown prints, in other words not in the system. Leyton had said that Miss Faraday’s were obviously the unknown and they all agreed.

But the important thing was that they had found minuscule droplets of blood on the coat which belonged not to Blakemore but his business partner, the silent supposedly secret partner in crime.

The D.A. spoke first, ‘it looks like this Hennessey guy is becoming more and more interesting as far as the Blakemore murder is concerned. First he lied to his lady friend about the hire car, not that that is important in itself, what man wouldn’t want to own a car like that? But it looks like he lied to the car hire company about being car jacked in order not to use his credit cards, and there’s only one reason a person would do that and that’s to stay under the radar.’

Leyton recalled that Adela had said almost the same thing. Lang went on, ‘all of this could be explained of course. What can’t be explained away so easily is what the raincoat of a murdered man is doing in his possession.’
They all looked at each other then at her, ‘so, any leads to where our Mr. Sterling Hennessey is right now?’

Lieutenant Freling said, ‘no, nothing, nada, zip, he’s disappeared off the face of the earth.’

‘No, he’s still on this earth somewhere,’ Lang said, ‘and said, ‘and we need to find him ASAP. This man, if he is our killer, found a way past five heavily armed men, two attack dogs and a state of the art security system to get to Blakemore. Shot him in his own bed, stole his car and made his getaway without anyone being any the wiser until five hours later.’

Leyton said, ‘he also somehow discovered who Blakemore’s partner was tracked him down and did away with him too.’

Freling nodded, ‘if he is our guy he’s smart, very smart, cunning and crafty and damn good at what he does.’

‘He could be more than that,’ said Leyton quietly, ‘t
hey all looked at him, ‘why do you think he went after those two guys in particular? Because they’re lowlife’s and don’t deserve to live? Because he’s a kinda vigilante getting rid of the scum to make life safer for the rest of us? Because he hates the way drugs ruin lives and wants to help stop it?’

Sullivan said impatiently, ‘so what you getting at, Ellis?’

Leyton opened his mouth to answer but Lang got there first, ‘he means, what are his motives for killing Blakemore and Stanton?’

Leyton nodded, ‘and there’s only one answer. These men had competitors, enemies, powerful enemies, people in the same kind of business they were in; people who would want to see them erased.’ He looked around at all present, ‘which means that Hennessey could be a contract killer.’

They were all silent digesting this. Sullivan opened his mouth as if he was going to argue with this conclusion and come up with some other, more reasonable explanation; he obviously couldn’t because he closed his mouth again.

Then Hooper said, ‘but why would he linger here in
Mississippi, in small town Eden, why would he get involved with this woman, this Adela Faraday?’

They all looked at him then at each other and Leyton’s skin turned cold and his heart did a quick somersault. This time the silence was palpable.

Freling’s tone was low and serious sounding as he asked, ‘what’s this woman like, is she the kind to have a hit put out on her?’

Sullivan looked at his partner smirking, ‘Ellis has become pretty pally with Miss. Faraday, isn’t that right, Ellis?’

Ellis looked daggers at him as he felt heat creep up his face, not just with embarrassment but also with guilt. He had decided to keep to himself the fact that he had told her about Hennessey’s non de plume’s, one, because he would get a severe reprimand from his boss and two, because he didn’t want them to ask why he had told her and he had no answer to that, he didn’t know himself. He cleared his throat and said, ‘in my view she’s the most unlikely person to have a contract put out on her. Besides, she’s only been in Mississippi for a week, she’s only been in the country for two weeks.

He could have just chosen Eden to hide awhile, either after the Blakemore hit or for some other crime he committed. And he might have just been using her as cover. A couple would arouse less suspicion that a man alone.'

'That makes sense,' said Lang, 'or she is a target and he just hasn't had the opportunity as yet to strike, maybe he's just been biding his time.'

Leyton inwardly shuddered and said, 'no, he's had ample opportunities.' He went on to tell them about their trips out, about the panther. Finishing with, 'they've spent time in the woods and other isolated places, if she were a hit he would have found a chance to strike.'

Freling nodded, ‘where was she before?’

‘
Alabama.’

‘Anything happen there. Did she get into any trouble; piss off the wrong people, anything like that?’

Leyton had not thought of that. He said, ‘she didn’t mention anything. But I’ll ask.’

Freling nodded, ‘do that,’ then with some urgency added, ‘and now would be a good time. If for whatever reason she is Hennessey’s target he seems like the kind of guy who won’t let a small thing like police protection stand in his way. At the very least she's a witness to his attack on Maxwell.' He picked up the phone, ‘I’ll call Jones, he’s watching her cabin, tell him to be on high alert for anything remotely suspicious and to take extra care of her…and himself.’

Lang said, ‘I’ll call the FBI and fill them in, see if
they
have anything on Hennessey, or anyone fitting his description or M.O in their files. Leyton was already at the door but turned when Freling said, ‘and, Ellis, it maybe that we’re jumping to conclusions about this Hennessey guy. He may not be a hired killer and that she don’t have a hit on her. But he could still see her as a potential threat and come after her to shut her up.’

Leyton’s stomach clenched as did his jaw. He nodded.

Sullivan stood and said, ‘I’ll get a hold of Sheriff Taylor, ask if he knows where she stayed in Alabama and if not, who would. Then I’ll make enquiries there.’

Leyton nodded again then left at a run hoping that they were completely wrong about Hennessey, and if not, hoping they would not be too late.

CHAPTER 28.

          Adela awoke suddenly and abruptly and for a moment she couldn’t think where she was; only the fact that she was cramped and uncomfortable reminded her that she had fallen asleep on the sofa, and apart from her shoes and socks she was wearing the clothes she had been wearing earlier. She raised herself up and groaned, her head ached as did her right arm where she had lain on it. She switched on the lamp which was on the small table next to the sofa and looked at her watch, 1.30a.m. Going to the window she peeked through the curtains  She knew she was being watched by the police, she had seen a man out there several times and had seen Detective Leyton look towards the trees as he had entered the cabin earlier, so knew they had sent someone to either watch over her, or to catch Hennessey if he attempted to contact her, or if she had read Sullivan right, she to contact him.

Sullivan didn’t like her and didn’t trust her so it was probably his idea to have someone watch her cabin. She gave a derisive little smirk; as if she would contact Hennessey again, as if she would want too, and why would
he
try to see
her
again, his plans to con her had gone awry thanks to his violent temper.

She closed the curtain impatient with herself, she must stop thinking about him, must stop conjuring up his image in her mind, stop seeing that smile, that laugh, those remarkable blue eyes.

She stood a moment looking around the room then went into the bathroom. When she’d done she splashed her face with cold water and brushed her teeth. She had showered twice since Leyton had left and this would be the forth time she had brushed her teeth, but still she thought she could smell Hennessey on her body, taste him on her lips. But she realised that no matter how many times she washed herself and brushed her teeth she would never completely erase him. She knew it was stupid, crazy even, but that’s how she felt, dirty and cheap.